


Niccolò Paganini of the 70’s

by knoxdalton



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Classical Music, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hogwarts, Kissing, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Transfiguration (Harry Potter), Violins, Young Remus Lupin, Young Sirius Black
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28956279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knoxdalton/pseuds/knoxdalton
Summary: One, full of the Firewhiskey night, Remus Lupin has shared his love to the classical music. For some reason, the next day, Sirius Black is found transfiguring an object into a violin.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	Niccolò Paganini of the 70’s

THE cold night breeze entered the Gryffindor boys dorm room. It was a beautiful peaceful night, with a very thin moon up in the sky. September’s air was not the nicest but the weather wasn’t nasty, either. It was quite chilly, one would say. Certainly, four drunk young men didn’t care about the temperature or even sickness that might attack them soon.

“For our last year in Hogwarts!” Remus, already very drunk, made a toast. 

James, with the new golden-red tie tied around his head and a half-empty bottle in his hand stumbled a bit to sit down after drinking it to show his excitement for the new school year. By accident, his flesh met Peter’s chubby posture and they both, giggling, fell back on the floor. 

“Ey, lads!” Sirius, matching ties with Potter, screamed. “Might put some music on.”

No one answered, but young Black didn’t care. His fingers were already all over the old record player that Remus had gotten them all for Christmas a few years prior. As far as Sirius was disconnected with the Black family, his abilities to operate with any muggle instruments begged for help. Especially, when he was drunk. 

Finally, the music filled the room. 

“Ay!” James protested. “What’s that?”

“Dunno,” Sirius said. “It just started playing.”

‘It is definitely Chopin,” Remus’ drunk mind thought. No one commented on the music for a few minutes. Sirius still stood next to the record player with a confused, but sleeplish grimaze. The only disruption for the music were James’ desperate attempts to open wandlessly a next firewhiskey bottle. The others - Remus and Peter seemed to enjoy it very much. 

“It ken stay,” Peter grinned. 

Sirius looked him deep inside the watery eyes and later turned around to the rest. The rest of the boys nodded so young Black sat his whole body loudly  
next to Remus. 

“I didn’ know ye liked classical music,” the chubby boy continued, looking directly inside Remus eyes. 

Peter’s piercing sight seemed extremely sober for the very drunk teenager. It didn’t last long. A few seconds of awkward drunk silence, Peter couldn’t hold it much longer and laughed hysterically.

“I like it very much,” it seemed like a lie because of Remus’ dreamy eyes. He accented every spoken word which made his accent stumble a bit. 

“No, you are just pissed, aren’t you?” James stood up and said it proudly, as if it was a golden thought of his. 

Sirius looked confused with his eyes quickly switching between Marauders.

“I am, I very much am,” Remus laughed very loudly. The rest joined him after a while. “But I, also, very much enjoy classical music. Violin, especially, if I can choose.”

“Nice to know. Finally not these shift-lifter rockstars,” James said, clearly looking at half-naked David Bowie posters. 

“Ey!” Remus and Sirius shouted, clearly offended.

A small argument appeared to be a big thing when they were all drunk. Peter was voting for peace, desperately, waving his hands around when Sirius and James had quite of a bro-fist-fight. It seemed dangerous from a third person perspective. Remus didn’t care about it, with his head pulled back, he enjoyed the low-quality music from the record player. 

“Okay, lads,” Sirius spoke. “A cig break, now,” the demanded was set. 

The whole night went on with the classical music and a lot of Sirius’ ‘cig breaks’ in between. 

-

Remus was wasted. He has been sulking with his eyes dripping down and green-ish sick skin colour the whole morning. The only thing that was inside his mind was sleep, peace and cigarettes which were going to happen in a few seconds. 

The long break after lunch was usually a great time to have a big nap. His thoughts were already under the soft, red Gryffindor blanket when he saw Sirius, desperately trying to transfigure something. Firstly, it was odd because Sirius was the best in transfiguration of the year and secondly, the object looked like… a violin.

“Merlin,” Remus swore, very disappointed. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to play… but I can’t get the bridge right, it sounds awful.”

“Why are you trying to play violin? You hate it.”

Sirius just shrugged his shoulder and said nothing. Some nasty sounding notes came from the nearly-a-violin object and the black haired man groaned, loudly. It was all set, Remus didn’t go for an after-lunch nap, trying to help Sirius but not knowing exactly what he should have done. 

-

Sirius’ violin worked which was a big milestone for them both, after a week of trying to get the bridge and later a bow rightly. The instrument was ugly in a sense. For some reason, the wood looked ragged and Remus didn’t know why it did so the violin stayed it that way. At least, the fingerboard wasn’t crooked as it used to be after first attempts. The other boy didn’t complain. However, it had its downturns. Sirius was violently playing on the breaks, before bed-time and even sometimes in the common room with an accompaniment of younger girls. Remus was happy to see his friend’s cheerful grin and eyes full of passion, but the other side of it, much darker, made him blush every time he heard even a single soft note or after seeing Sirius lightly holding the bow. 

“Pads, for Merlin’s sake,” James groaned, madly. “Please, stop.”

“I will when I get it right,” Sirius protested and put the bow once again. A very nasty sound came from the violin after a while of playing. “Here, I can’t get it…”

“I can very much tell,” the other boy said. Peter nodded. “You can play but at least change the track.” 

Sirius looked disappointed with his eyes suddenly locked onto his feet and the violin hanging lightly from his neck. The will of getting the right notes was great but greater was fear of being levitated and destroying the hard achieved instrument. He started to feel some inner connections with the transfigured violin. 

“So,” he finally spoke. “What'd you want?”

“Le Nozze di Figaro,” Remus said, very quietly, as if he didn’t want anyone to hear it. “Wolfgang Amadeus.”

The black haired boy stared at him for a while but picked the violin and started to play, without any comments. He knew this piece pretty well from his memory because his mother told him to present it at a family gathering once. Regulus was playing piano at that time. ‘Lucky lad,’ Sirius thought, being quite envious about their parents’ choice of instruments. Piano seemed more elegant and more romantic than any violin ever. 

Remus looked stunned, he has never seen anyone playing the violin before, especially Sirius, enjoying every second of the play. A very strange, funny feeling appeared in his stomach. It wasn’t unpleasant but it was uncomfortable to feel it while his friend has been playing one of Remus’ favourite pieces. Sirius was very talented with, obviously, minimal effort. He picked the violin after years of not playing and got everything in a few hours. It impressed Remus. Maybe too much.

Remus’ cheeks were flushed, a bit. His whole body was, too. A warm, thick feeling started to eat up the other, funny one. Remus couldn’t decide if it was good. 

-

The right plan formed inside his head: try to avoid Sirius till he decided to stop playing violin. 

It didn’t work. Sirius was way up too playing songs while Remus was around, tossing around more complicated titles and enjoying the sight of red cheeks of his… friend? Every of their contact seemed more intime. Every accidental light touch gave them a small electric shock and their eye contact were usually too long to be considered appropriate. The brown haired boy was very puzzled with the sudden change of energy of their friendship, not feeling as safe in it as he used to.

Remus, once, had left the room when Sirius with his hair tied in a bun and loosen tie started to play ‘L’estate’ by Vivaldi. His insides became unbearably warm after seeing the magnificent hand work and posture. Sirius, besides having amazing skills, got the looks while playing. Remus couldn’t say that Black was ugly or unattractive before, but somehow, with his hands on the instrument, the handsomeness was too much to handle. The other boy just laughed at the red face of his friend and continued to practice the classic. 

Sirius’ choices of the daily repertuar started to be easy but very presenting and breathtaking as if he wanted to show off in front of Remus without the fear of doing something wrong. The thought of it was creeping inside the boy’s head once a while but quickly shaked of it. It was irrational to think that way, wasn’t it?

-

As the full month passed, Remus was completely sure that the small fling about Sirius’ playing was not only a fling but a crush that he couldn’t get over. The reason might be simple. Sirius has been playing the violin every night to sleep and his abilities got even better. He stood more firmly with a confident grip on the neck and the bow pressed perfectly on the strings. Remus was shyly staring at his friend, feeling lovesick and impressed.

James and Peter profited from it. For some reason, Sirius fell in love with Waltz and has been playing different versions of it, every night. Both of the boys were dancing to it and acting like they were some kind of monarch. Peter starred as princess and James was trying to get her heart with his magic tricks. A few times, Remus was also engaged in the dance when Lily came over and Peter suddenly lost his king-love-interest. Sirius very much enjoyed the attention and shined on his bed as if it was a real stage. 

End-of-October evening, Remus wanted to rest after the whole day of studying. The sun outside was going slowly down shining in deep orange through the library’s window. It was a sign for the brown haired boy that it was finally time to rest. As the seventh year approached, he wanted to be focused on NEWTs to the maximum which Sirius’ clearly tried to ruin. 

With books levitating after him, Remus came to the Gryffindor tower. His whole body ached from being constantly bowed to read or write. The warm nap was needed, eventually, some Sirius’ music to loo him to sleep. 

‘Danse Macabre,’ he thought, as his body approached the Fat Lady portrait. The music was loud. Sirius must have been playing in the common room. ‘Op. 10.’

Yes, Sirius was very much playing, with a group of lovesick looking girls. Remus’ kidney started to throb after seeing this. Was Sirius using his extraordinary abilities to get girls? He never seemed to be interested in ones, not if it was Remus’ business… However, it seemed it was his business. The sight made him nurseous. 

He stormed upstairs. 

The first solution that came inside his mind was to play loudly some music on the old record player. The victim was ‘Cracked Actor’ record by David Bowie. Remus couldn’t say he enjoyed it more than Sirius’ fingers on the violin but there was no other use of the situation. David Bowie had a nice voice, though. 

Not even in a half of the first song, madly looking Sirius came into the room.

Remus was curled up on his bed with his chin rested on the knees. He didn’t look sad. Neither, he was pleased. Sirius stared at him for a bit, trying to read his emotions. However, the brown haired boy’s face looked emotionless, only enjoying the loud David Bowie’s voice.

Finally, Sirius made a move and turned off the radio.

“Ey!” Remus protested.

Sirius did not respond but his hands were on the violin which was put on his shoulder. The sound ‘N. Paganini Caprice no. 5’ filled the whole room. Remus was… confused, why Sirius started to play the piece without the context. He was also stunned. Amazed. Light-headed. ‘N.Paganini Caprice no.5’ was one of the hardest pieces to play, with the amazing finger work on the fingerboard. 

Sirius put his whole heart into his piece. The melody, fast, but very romantic. Full of feelings. Full of attraction. Full of tension. If Remus was asked what he felt during the piece, he wouldn’t know what to answer. He wanted to look at Black’s strong, slim fingers, the bow work but, also, he wanted to be focused on the sound itself. 

The soft silence spread across the room. 

“Wow,” Remus said. His face was flusingly red. The strange, warm feeling was curling inside his body. “With this piece you’d certainly woo some of these girls,” he didn’t know why he said it. 

“I don’t want to woo women.”

Sirius took a few steps forward, putting down the violin onto Remus’ chest in front of his bed. Soon, they both were sitting on the soft, red cushions, Remus more red than before with the head full of thoughts. 

“Huh?” he finally said, very puzzled. 

“I started playing violin to woo you, Moony,” Sirius whispered as if he was scared of Remus' reaction. “You once said you liked classical music. I hated it because of my family but I wanted to impress you.”

It was a confession straight from Sirius’ heart and Remus could feel it. Empotional, yet so simple. The heat between them was very unpleasant, he desperately wanted to change the atmosphere. With this thought, he allowed Sirius to slowly move forward, like a scared animal and nearly closed the distance between them. 

“May I?” Sirius asked. 

Remus wanted to laugh. Obviously, the other boy was the type of gentleman that asked before the kiss. Remus’ throat was suddenly annoyingly dry which made him only nod. Soft Sirius lips were pressed lightly onto the other boy’s. 

Soon, Remus realized that Sirius kissed the same as he played the violin: elegant and with passion.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading,, my twt is @ RLUP1N !


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